Best of DIYs | Veneer Pendant Lighting

Back in 2011 Holly of The Adventures of an Almost 40 Year Old Intern
contacted me about a fun pendant light DIY she had made. The result
was this cute little set shown here and how fun that there was a similar
one you could buy at West Elm, about a year later. Continuing with
our Best of DIYs, here is her popular tutorial that she so kindly shared
with our readers back then.

Recently
I visited one of my favorite stationery stores in town and saw these
beautiful wooden sheets of paper; a thin veneer made from so many
different types of wood (cherry, walnut, birds eye maple, aspen, red
cedar, you name it!) and was really inspired by it. I thought it would
be perfect for creating a light fixture (clearly I am on a lighting
kick lately!) So, I made some (two of them to be exact) and I didn't
think it was possible but I love these just as much as my brass pendant diy!

If you like what you see above, here are the directions on how to create your own:

Materials needed:

sheets of 11x17" two ply wooden paper
(for the smaller lamp i used 1 sheet of birds eye maple and 1 of red
cedar and 1 of walnut and for the larger i used 3 1/2 sheets of the
cherry)

Start with two embroidery
hoops, one measuring 12" diameter and the other 5" diameter (I only
used the fully formed hoop and did not use the outer hoop with the
metal hardware attached). Cut 4 pieces of the paper measuring 1" wide
and 11" long. Measure the hoops and divide them into 4 equal parts and
and mark each. then attach each piece of the wood strip to the top and
bottom with glue and cover each end with bulldog clips until it sets

While
that part is drying cut 1" strips of paper that are each 17" long.
Note: I was careful to keep them in order because I wanted the wood
grain to match when i glued them.

Begin
attaching the wooden paper to the large hoop first. as you attach
them, line them up with the top of the hoop, clip the outside of each
piece in order to hold it. note: i ended up buying and using a bunch
more clips than I started with in order to be more efficient with my
time.

After
finishing with the large hoop, move on to attaching each end to the
smaller one. Note: here I had to overlap the strips of paper in order
for it to fit onto the smaller hoop. I was careful to keep the grain
lined up.

Once
dry, use a 17" long 1" wide strip of paper to wrap around the outside
of the smaller hoop to cover glue and seams and use two 17" strips to
wrap around the outside of the larger hoop. To create the piece that
will hold your pendant, trace the inside and outside of your smaller
hoop onto a piece of basswood. Use your straight edge to draw a line
from the inner hoop tracing from corner to corner to find the center of
the piece. This is where you will draw a circle large enough to thread
your pendant wire through (should be big enough to allow the plug to
pass through).

Cut
where you traced the outside edge of your hoop as well as the circle
in the center . Slide the piece into the top of your fixture from the
bottom. You shouldn't need glue as it will be stable with your paper
strips holding it.

Smaller Pendant

The
directions are the same but instead of using a large and a small hoop,
I used 2 small hoops. Also instead of using one type of wooden paper i
used 2; instead of 1" strips that were 17" long I cut 1 1/2" strips;
and I used 2 short braces instead of 4.

For these
lights I am using a super duper low wattage bulb. I did order fire
retardant spray to apply to them as a precaution but it didn't arrive
in time for this post so I don't know if it will affect the wood.

For those of you just tuning in and wanting to know more about Holly you can by visit here here and on facebook and twitter!

I'm really sorry to say that, but as far as I know veneer is not a good thing: it takes a lot of wood to make one of those sheets, for, say, a 0.02 mm thick sheet you have to throw away a lot, like many times more than 0.02, depending on the kind of saw used... for something whose purpose is only decorative, maybe it's not worth the loss. Why not rethink that great idea with a more sustainable material? After all, the reason why we like those fixtures is that they bring the beauty of nature, right?